The conventional fast food industry in the US is under tremendous
pressure from health freaks. Moreover, new smaller players
are also emerging in the market with healthier versions of the fast
food. How will fast food giants like McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger
King and KFC cope with these challenges?
On July 26, 2004, a news channel reported
that a man from New York had
filed a class action lawsuit1 against
four fast food giants—McDonald’s,
Wendy’s, Burger King and KFC. The
lawsuit claimed that these companies
sold products that were high in fat,
salt, sugar, and cholesterol. All these
ingredients are known to have a link
with obesity, diabetes, coronary heart
disease, high blood pressure, stroke,
elevated cholesterol, intake related
cancers, and other health problems.
The lawsuit also pointed out that the
fast food companies failed to inform
the consumers about the risks associated
with eating foods with high calorie
contents. This brought into focus
the controversy regarding the fast food
industry.
A 2004 survey showed that while
on the road, 81% people in the US ate
fast food compared to 56% who ate
fruits and vegetables. This preference
for fast food resulted in two-thirds of
the adults in the US being officially
over-weight (Box Item 1). According
C M A N A G E M E N T
to another study, approximately onethird
of the children in the US aged
between 4 and 19 eat fast food on a
daily basis. This is expected to increase
weight by an extra six pounds
for every child per year. Cases of obesity
and food poisoning thus have
grown at a higher rate than at any time
in history. Medical practitioners
blame the rising consumption of preprocessed
and pre-cooked fatty foods
for this. The fast food companies
were the main culprits for the nation’s
obesity problem. Despite being embroiled
in all sorts of controversy the
industry managed to attain annual
revenue of $144 bn in 2004 and catered
to almost a third of all US adults
everyday. It was also found that, on
an average, fast food chains spent
nearly $1 bn a year on television advertisements. |
